Turn attention away from troubles to give thanks

As my students shuffled into the last class before the Thanksgiving break, I almost asked them about their holiday plans. But I didn’t. The majority of my students have full-time jobs in addition to their classes. And, as I know from previous semesters, the break from classes gives many of them time to put in extra hours at their jobs, giving them an increased paycheck, just in time for the holidays.

Students are struggling. This fall has probably been my most difficult semester teaching. At first, I thought it had to do with balancing three young children and my career. But, in the hallways and parking lots at school, the evidence was telling.

At the beginning of the semester, if I arrived past 9 a.m., I had difficulty finding a parking space near my building. The hallways were crowded with students, waiting in between classes. Now, at Week 14 of the semester, those same hallways look like ghost towns; the parking lot often beckons with its empty spaces.

Those students shuffling into class are the same eight students that have religiously attended each class. In a class of 25 – a class that initially had all students in attendance – I can count on those eight to always attend. The others have been scattered and lost in the wind.

As a professor, I can only do so much. I reach out to their advisors; I send check-in e-mails; I post their grades. Sometimes, a student returns the e-mail; sometimes, they return to class.

Those students are the ones who tell me about their work, their families, their increasingly stressful circumstances. In those meetings, my office seems almost like a therapy session. And, those are the moments that I really see the struggle: the belief that a college degree can get them somewhere, but a fading sense of purpose as the reality of balancing finances and classwork sinks in. And, that reality is often very bleak.

The media is broadcasting signs of a “Great Resignation.” We hear people complaining about how “this generation” and young adults don’t want to work. The waits at restaurants and lines in stores, we’re told, are all testaments to this economic struggle. The evidence of increased resignations is valid, but I think there’s something more to it.

Burnout is real. It’s part of the reason this fall has been so problematic. My students have been burning the candle at both ends for over a year. My student population is primarily made up of what has been called “frontline” workers at the beginning of the pandemic; hourly employees who are increasingly being asked to work extra hours and double shifts. Their class schedules are often ignored by their employers – and the students themselves because they’re struggling to pay for their tuition.

It’s not only my students. Colleagues at many institutions are reporting the same things: decreased attendance, increases in failed grades, low morale. And, it’s difficult to see a solution – but I think it ultimately comes down to purpose.

So many have lost a sense of purpose. Without that drive, it’s no wonder the majority of individuals seem lost.

So, instead of asking about their plans over break, I asked them a question that many of them said they hadn’t been asked since grade school: What are you thankful for?

Turning attention to gratitude, even for just a brief moment, lifted the mood and offered a chance for reflection on something higher than one’s self. I may have gotten the most authentic answers I’ve gotten all semester, and a chance to see the real personalities – and struggles – of those students.

hbozantwitcher@clarionherald.org